the price we pay to feel
by ConcreteAngelRoxHerHalo
Summary: In which Courfeyrac gets friend-zoned, Montparnasse is lonely, Éponine gets three barricade boys, Marius sees a plant as green as Grantaire's absinthe, and Javert wants to set the world on fire. A series of drabbles with almost every pairing.
1. Friend Zone

**PAIRING: Courfeyrac/Éponine/Marius**

* * *

_I like this girl so much, she's always on my mind..._

Courfeyrac had a new play up his sleeve. However, the truth of it was simple. He was friend zoned by Éponine Thénardier, the girl who was hopelessly in love with his naive, douchy roommate, Marius.

_I hate when you make me watch Sex and the City until the day ends,_

_I'm not your gay friend!_

_But I'll do it, just to get next to you._

He would do anything for her. He even endured going shopping with her, and when she didn't want to have the Sex and the City marathon alone with Cosette, he was the one who went with her

_I'm in a frenzy because my bedroom's empty_.

She didn't understand what she did to him. He was in constant heat, wanting her so desperately in his bed that he could barely think of everything else. Hell, he even went to her ex, Montparnasse, and got a naked picture of her that he kept in his wallet

_I want to leave now..._

He wanted to return to his man-whorish ways, but he couldn't walk away. Her subtle refusal of him was enough to draw him in no matter how much he wanted to push away.

_Always feel free to cry on my shoulder, boo..._

She came to him to cry over Marius, and he offered her his shoulder like any good friend would. The words burned at his throat, "If you loved me, I'd never leave."

_She's tempting but riddled with doubt..._

But he stayed quiet, holding the beautiful girl as she cried herself to sleep in his arms. Éponine was innocent looking in her sleep, and although she seemed so open, he doubted that she would appreciate the fact that he continued holding her.

_I'm sure I'll stay..._

She would never understand that he wouldn't let her go.

_he's got a few broken screws,_

_I'm so confused..._

Courfeyrac couldn't figure out her fascination with Marius, who never gave her the time of day. In opposition, if Courfeyrac and Éponine weren't together, he was texting her. He did his best to be nonchalant about his obsession with this crime-riddled rose, but all Les Amis knew and laughed at him whenever she wasn't around.

_I want to leave now but I just can't walk away..._

There were so many reasons to quit, but he just couldn't walk away.

* * *

**a/n: In a nutshell, this is a series of unconnected drabbles based on my music! **

**1) Put your music on shuffle.**

**2) Write a Drabble based on the song that plays.**

**3) Write for the duration of the song.**

**4) Post your Drabble!**


	2. Better Than Revenge

**PAIRING: Cosette/Marius/Éponine. **

**WARNING: Dark!Éponine**

* * *

_The story starts when it was hot and it was summer _

_And I had it all, I had him right there where I wanted him_

It was summer when Marius first saw Cosette. The day was warm and Éponine was feeling optimistic. She had Marius to the point where he thought about her (cared for her?) and asked after her. It was exactly where she wanted him. One of the few things her father taught her was how to worm her way into somebody's heart. So Marius was exactly where she wanted him.

_She came along, got him alone and let's hear the applause_

_She took him faster than you could say "sabotage"_

Then came Cosette.

_I never saw it coming, wouldn't have suspected it_

_I underestimated just who I was dealing with_

How could Éponine _not_ have seen it coming? Marius was wealthier than her, and she was not super pretty. And, of course, fate bites you in the ass, so the woman that Marius fell for would _of course_ be the same child that Éponine was cruel to when she was small. Who would guess that the scrawny, plain servant girl would grow to be beautiful? It was the classic story of the ugly duckling that turns into a swan.

_She had to know the pain was beating on me like a drum_

Éponine was with Marius moments before they met eyes, so Cosette should have been able to guess that her childhood enemy had feelings for this boy. Surely Cosette, who was now sophisticated, would have been smart enough to figure out that she was causing the _gamine_ incredible pain?

_She's not a saint_

_And she's not what you think_

_She's an actress_

As she caved and brought Marius to his love, she wanted to scream out the truth. That Cosette was as ugly inside as she once was on the out. She was acting the part of a lady, but she was actually the daughter of a whore. Of course, Éponine couldn't say much about herself in those respects, so she stayed silent.

_Soon she's gonna find_

_Stealing other people's toys_

_On the playground won't_

_Make you many friends..._

_She looks at life like it's a party and she's on the list_

Cosette, robbed of a childhood, could never know that stealing someone else's toy was mean. Éponine knew that, but she chose to ignore it. Instead she focused on how rich Cosette was living life like a fairytale ball.

_She looks at me like I'm a trend and she's so over it_

"My friend, 'Ponine!" Marius exclaimed, drawing Éponine out of her stupor. Cosette's blue eyes widened and then returned to their blank stare. Éponine was convinced that she saw the blonde's lip curl in disdain.

"Come on, Monsieur, we must go." Éponine murmured, and Marius spared Cosette one more longing glance before going away with his friend.

_I think her ever-present frown is a little troubling_

"Oh, Éponine, did you see her? She was beautiful! And her pouty lips, so perfect!"

_No amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity_

"Is it not slightly troubling that she always frowns?" Éponine interjected, but Marius ignored her as usual. He wouldn't know that his precious angel was just a smudge of dirt playing dress up.

_There is nothing I do better than revenge_

She and Marius parted, and her plan sprung to action. Éponine Thernardier wasn't good at many things, but one of the few talents she had was the ability to excel in the act of revenge. And she had the perfect thing.

_You might have him but I always get the last word_

Cosette may have had Marius in the living world, but Éponine would have him in the afterlife. And she would bring him there herself. The barricades were rising the following day; everything was far too easy. Poor Cosette would never see it coming.

_She's better known_

_For the things that she does_

_On the mattress, whoa_

Éponine would always consider herself better than that slutty scum.


	3. The Way I Loved You

**PAIRING: Combeferre/Éponine and former!Enjonine**

* * *

_He is sensible and so incredible_

_And all my single friends are jealous._

She loved Combeferre, she genuinely did. He was kind and caring and his warm eyes melted the ice of her heart. He was everything anyone wanted in a guy. Even Muschietta and Cosette were occasionally jealous. She couldn't ask for anything better.

_But I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain,_

_And it's 2 am and I'm cursing your name..._

_It's a roller coaster kinda rush_

But Éponine was caught up with thoughts of someone else. She was thinking about midnight fights over the smallest of things. She would run into the rain to escape him and he would follow her, as he always did. There, in the rain, with his golden hair sodden with rain water, she would get even angrier at him because he was too fucking perfect. She would lunge at him, and despite everything he wouldn't hit her back. Instead, he would kiss her with those carved lips of his and they would end up back inside, arguing between kisses and over discarded clothing. They were unhealthy for each other, but their insanity was a daily thing and was needed for their life. This roller coaster was them in every way, and anyone who tried to steal that from them could go to hell.

_He respects my space and he never makes me wait..._

_He's close to my mother and talks business with my father._

Combeferre was steady and knew her boundaries by heart. He's made it his own personal business to know hers, and she loved him for it. She loved him to being Combeferre. He tolerated her family; he was close to her mother and sister and even managed to hold himself in deals with Thernardier. Never ending respect was earned in that way.

_Breaking out and coming undone..._

_I never knew I could feel that much _

She missed Enjolras with every fiber of her being despite it. She could remember the day he left her. She was a crying mess on the floor of the bathroom that was no longer theirs but hers. She'd chased him out with a hairdryer in her hand and she'd missed the taxi by inches. She saw his regretful face in the window and it killed her.

_He's charming and endearing and I'm comfortable_

Combeferre was the one who found her alone. He was the one who gently pried the pill bottle from her hand and helped her to bed. He was the one who stayed with her till morning and he was the one who loved her.

_He can't see the smile I'm faking_

_And my heart's not breaking_

But Enjolras ruined her. Her heart was stone, and every smile towards Combeferre was fake. She loved him the way she always had- as a friend. Nothing more.

_That's the way I loved you._

Of course, what could follow after the way she loved Enjolras?

* * *

**A/N: I posted a slightly different (and longer) version of this Drabble. Check it out? **

**Has anyone heard any of these songs?**


	4. If I Die Young

_If I die young,  
Bury me in satin.  
Lay me down on a bed of roses,  
Sink me in the river at dawn  
Send me away with the words of a love song._

Éponine always knew that she was going to die young. Her romantic mind dreamt up the ways she would go. Perhaps she would be sent down the Seine in a small boat filled with roses, wearing a satin gown. Would the sun be rising over Paris's river? Would someone sing a love song for her as she floated away?

She blamed her mother for her romantic ideals of death.

_Make a rainbow shine down on my mother  
She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors_

As she finally lay in her love's arms, she wondered if her mother would miss her. Surely not her father, but Maman and Azelma? She didn't even know that her mother was waiting for her in Hell, not knowing that Éponine was destined for the angels.

_I'm wearing white when I come into your kingdom.  
I'm as green as the ring on my little cold finger_

She was looking forward to the moment she would enter God's kingdom. She imagined a white dress and a fluffy cloud and the promise of forever. She would wait for Monsieur Marius and he would make that promise.

_I've never known the loving of a man..._

God knows she'd spent too much time in the world of the living. It wasn't starvation or disease that took her in the end. No, it was love. In a way, that's the worst disease that exists, and by far the most deadly.

_A penny for my thoughts?  
Oh no, I'll sell 'em for a dollar.  
They're worth so much more after I'm a gonner.  
Maybe then you'll hearts words I've been singing.  
Funny, when you're dead, how people start listening._

She was a perfect example. She lay in Marius' arms, and he was finally ready to notice her now that she was dying. It was as if her thoughts gained meaning when she was on her deathbed.

_Save up your tears, keep them in your pocket.  
Save them for a time when you're really gonna need them._

She wanted him to cry. Was that really so selfish? A tear running down that perfect face would put her at peace. Alas, his tears were reserved for Cosette.

_Forever can be severed by the sharp knife of a short life..._

Him holding her was enough.

**A/N: DO NOT BLAME ME FOR MY OVER ABUNDANCE OF COUNTRY-POP SONGS. Actually, blame my state that has forced me to become southern(ish) through osmosis.**

**Next is a Rise Against song! (You get a cookie if you know who they are. ALL OF THEIR SONGS FIT LES AMIS SO I KINDA FREAK OUT EVERY TIME.)**


	5. Architects

_Are we the generation we've been waiting for?_

_ Are we patiently burning, waiting to be saved?_

_Do you still believe in all the things _

_That you stood by before?_

_...And do you care to be the layer _

_Of the bricks that seal your fate? _

_Or would you rather be the architect_

_Of what we might create?_

They were artists in a way. They were artists of their own fate. They knew what they were getting themselves into the moment they heard the word 'abaisse'. Despite that, at the barricade, Enjolras felt the need to check on their beliefs. Of course, they were in the same place as they always had been. In his girlish hands.

They broke apart to try and steal some sleep, something that would not come easily to the children who were so eager to set the world on fire.

_Our heroes are icons that mellow with age _

_Following rules that they once disobeyed _

_They're now being lead when they used to lead the way_

Enjolras delved within his thoughts, thinking of how he was to be destroyed whichever way this uprising would go. If he was meant to die, so be it. If he lived however, he was engulfed in fear of mellowing with age and losing his passion.

_Who the fuck's gonna take their place?_

_ Yeah, will it be the cynic, the critics galore _

_You say how pathetic, passed out on the floor..._

He wouldn't let himself; he would control his own fate. He would die soon, of that he was certain. But when they were gone, who was going to take their place? Grantaire, the cynic?

Enjolras scoffed aloud at that idea. He'd rather try to take his own place through connections with a psychic.

As if in a different world, he heard Pontmercy murmuring in his sleep as he dreamt of his secret mistress that was really not that secretive.

A moan brought the revolutionary's attention to their captive, and his thoughts switched gears that quickly.

_Make no mistake, we are not afraid _

_To bear the burden of repeating what they're thinking anyway_

Enjolras was suddenly burning to ask the inspector if he was ever young; if he ever had these anarchist thoughts. Surely not; but everyone did at some point and inspector Javert was unlikely to be exempt. And couldn't Javert understand that Enjolras was just repeating what everyone was thinking anyway? He really just had to put the thoughts into words. He wasn't special; he was just the mouth for the people. The same people that Javert was supposed to be protecting.

_And don't you remember when we were young _

_And we wanted to set the world on fire?_

_ 'Cause I still am and I still do_

Filled with a new fire and anger at this thought, Enjolras didn't care about Javert's schoolboy thoughts. Luke Enjolras was young, and to hell with those who believed in nothing. He was going to set the world on fire, and he was going to throw himself in the flames.

* * *

**GAH. The formatting was being a total bitch (so was La Patron Minette... I mean that in the most loving way possible) so this took forever. Now to indulge myself with Aaron Tveit interviews until Graceland premiers tonight. So. Um. Yes. **

**And since she did this to me on FicPress, go to La Patron Minette's story 'The Muses', it's an e/OC story with a different plot. As you all well know, those can go either way and (don't tell her I'm admitting this) her's is on the positive side... So far. **

**Review!**

**(WARNING: More country coming up. I'm terribly sorry)**


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